Working With Bill Gates Changed Us. Now, Let’s Change the World

So it turns out that running a magazine can be … rather difficult. But when one of the world’s most powerful, intelligent, and generous thought leaders agrees to step in and guest-edit your December issue, things suddenly get much easier. Emails get returned. People—even presidents!—jump at the chance to participate. New storytelling possibilities present themselves. When Bill Gates is on your team, the world opens up to you.

That’s a happy fact that millions of people can now attest to. As we all know, Gates is in what might be the most incredible second act in American history, dedicating his fortune and—even better—his mind to improving the lives of the poorest among us. Depending on the day, you might find him in Africa talking to polio vaccinators, in New York addressing the UN General Assembly, meeting with teachers to chart the future of education, or in a brainstorm session scoping out new ways of generating electricity.

Bill Gates has not just reinvented himself—he has reinvented philanthropy. He fearlessly wrestles with seemingly intractable problems of tremendous magnitude. But without his first act as CEO of Microsoft, he wouldn’t be as well equipped to play this role, which calls on all his skills as a technologist and a strategist—even as a maniacally focused competitor. Only this time, he’s not gunning for Apple. He’s taking down polio.

And he’s also helping to change the priorities of the tech industry. Last May, when our founding executive editor, Kevin Kelly, interviewed some of the twentysomethings who are launching tech companies today, they cited Bill Gates—not Steve Jobs—as their greatest inspiration. I hear it more and more in my conversations with executives and engineers: the urge to think more broadly, to look outside the sometimes solipsistic bubble of Silicon Valley. To be sure, technology has been one of the most powerful forces for good over the past 20 years, but Gates has taught us that we can have a greater impact by applying the tools and the thinking that powered this great revolution to the world beyond the tech industry.

In short, Bill Gates has taught us to think bigger.

So for this month we have put WIRED in his hands and asked him to show us the way forward. All summer and into the fall, we worked at his direction. We observed the man and his methods up close and at a remove as he circled the globe. Person to person, the individuals who make this magazine have partnered with Gates and his extraordinary team to assemble the best storytelling elements into a very special edition of WIRED.

In the end, I think you’ll come away with a new appreciation for the immense undertaking that is Gates’ second act. And I hope you will also be inspired to emulate his example. Few of us have billions to spend, but we’re all richly endowed with energy and ideas. It’s time for us to apply our minds to humanity’s biggest and toughest problems. The primary beneficiaries may be the world’s poorest, but we will all be better off.